This invention relates to a glass or ceramic block or plate which is reinforced with pieces of an inorganic fibrous or flaky material and a method of producing same. The reinforced glass or ceramic plate is useful as a building or construction material.
It is known to produce a reinforced glass or ceramic block by dispersing pieces of an inorganic fibrous material over the entire volume of the block. For example, JP-A No. 60-36384 shows a foamed glass or ceramic block with pieces of a carbon fiber or a ceramic fiber dispersed therein.
In practice, however, it is difficult to uniformly disperse a fibrous reinforcing material in a glass or ceramic matrix. It is difficult to uniformly mix the reinforcing material, which is in the form of elongate pieces usually longer than 5 mm, with powdery or granular materials of the glass or ceramic primarily because the reinforcing material is very different from the particles or granules of the basic materials in shape, size and specific gravity. Another obstacle to uniform mixing is partial tangling of the elongate pieces of the reinforcing material. Also in mixing the reinforcing material with a melt of a glass, uniform mixing is difficult because of the difference in specific gravity and partial tangling of the elongate pieces of the reinforcing material. Consequently, the fibrous reinforcing material is often dispersed unevenly in the resultant glass or ceramic block such that in some sections of the block the reinforcing effect is considerably lower than in other sections.